A lot of people have been speculating as to who will be the next Speaker of the House of Representatives prior to yesterday’s election. Now that the Republicans have taken control of the House, most eyes have turned to House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio. Although his positions are quite good on a number of issues such as abortion and gun rights, I believe there are better choices out there.

We need a Speaker who will ardently and consistently stand up against big government and support fiscal conservatism. Toward that end, might I suggest that we start by examining the following candidates: Rep. Paul Broun (GA), Rep. Randy Forbes (VA), Rep. Ed Royce (CA), Rep. Michael Burgess (TX), Rep. Scott Garrett (NJ), Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (GA), Rep. Phil Gingrey (GA), Rep. Ron Paul (TX), Rep John Duncan Jr. (TN), Rep Louie Gohmert (TX), Rep. Ted Poe (TX), Rep. Jeff Flake (AZ), Rep. Jack Kingston (GA), or Rep. Tom Price (GA). Now you may be asking, what do all these House of Representatives members have in common? Each of them steadfastly voted against every bailout proposal in 2008 and 2009. Although there were seventeen folks in all who were originally on this list, several have retired or moved on to other offices. Even though the House has the option to elect a Speaker outside their ranks, I don’t consider such a move likely, as it has never happened up to this point.

Now, unfortunately some of these choices I don’t really know. It is quite possible that they hold very objectionable voting records in regard to other issues. Nevertheless, I believe that the Republican Party should set some sort of principled standard as to who the next Speaker will be. Standing firm against the bailouts sounds like an excellent way to begin to weed out potential choices.

The American people have once again given the Republicans a chance to at least share in the leadership of our national government. Electing a proven and principled Speaker to the House of Representatives will help make sure they don’t screw up this opportunity by 2012. Otherwise prepare yourself for another term of President Obama.